OWH: 10 Numbers for the Huskers in 2016

[Mavric]

» 10.4: The average number of wins for the 10 league teams that played for the conference title — before those teams played for that title.

 

» 354.2: Average yards per game given up by the middle-of-the-pack Big Ten defense the last five seasons.

 

» 23.2: Points per game given up by the middle-of-the-pack Big Ten defense the last five seasons.

 

» 2.04: Giveaways per game by the Nebraska offense and special teams the last five seasons.

 

» 30.7: The percentage of games the last five seasons that Nebraska committed three or more giveaways.

 

» 4.65: Yards per carry on first down.

 

» Minus-1.2: Yards in net field position, the average starting point of Nebraska’s non-garbage time drives last season compared to the average starting point of its opponents’ non-garbage time drives, according to Football Outsiders.

 

» 19,000: The number of rushing yards amassed by Oregon football the last five seasons.

 

» 34.54: Opponents’ third-down conversion rate the last five seasons against Nebraska.

 

» 53.8: For our final number, I give you Nebraska’s five-year winning percentage against current Big Ten West foes. NU has a 14-12 record against Wisconsin, Iowa, Northwestern, Illinois, Purdue and Minnesota.

 

OWH

[Mavric]

Leave it to Sam to throw in that last number to try to make it look like we've been a middle-of-the-road team in the West for the last five years.

[lo country]

30.7.... Almost 1/3 of our games we give the ball away 3 times or more. That number is horrible, BUT also shows how good we could be if we dropped that number. It's almost impossible to win, at all IMO, with TO's like that.

 

If we could lower one number and see an immediate turn around, it would be that one.

[Redux]

Leave it to Sam to throw in that last number to try to make it look like we've been a middle-of-the-road team in the West for the last five years.

We have been a middle of the road team for the last 5 years. Maybe not solely in the west, but one division title is pretty damning.

[teachercd]

Remember when "we" were going to dominate the Big Ten because "we" were so much faster and had Texas speed. Ugggg!

[Redux]

Remember when "we" were going to dominate the Big Ten because "we" were so much faster and had Texas speed. Ugggg!

We also had a ceiling that we didn't realize that we had already hit.

[IlliniHusker]

Very sobering numbers. I spit up all the Kool-Aid I've been drinking during summer. My hope is that this will be a transition year with better results in 2017 / 2018 / etc.

[knapplc]

[airboose]

They are sobering numbers, and should get the attention of most fans.

[ColoradoHusk]

Very sobering numbers. I spit up all the Kool-Aid I've been drinking during summer. My hope is that this will be a transition year with better results in 2017 / 2018 / etc.

Why is this year another transition year? I understand Armstrong isn't the ideal QB for Riley/Langsdorf and the defense doesn't have great depth and experience on the d-line. But, there should be plenty of talent to challenge for the division championship.

 

I could see 2017 being a struggle year with a new starting QB, new WR's, and other turnover.

[BoKnowsD]

oh Shawn..

[Red Five]

Leave it to Sam to throw in that last number to try to make it look like we've been a middle-of-the-road team in the West for the last five years.

 

Maybe because we have been?

 

5-3

7-1

5-3

5-3

3-5

 

Do you think that we haven't been?

[teachercd]

oh Shawn..

Ha!

 

Remember...we had a hack coach with a hack staff and anyone could win 9 games...9 games was not the ceiling it was the floor!

 

Fast forward to the second season for Coach Riley:

 

- Well, Tell you what, Indiana could be a trap game and Iowa is always tough at home, also don't forget that Fresno State is starting a QB that we know nothing about, they have the element of surprise.

[84HuskerLaw]

Looking at the stats cited:

 

10 plus wins by the conference champs is nothing surprising

354 yards per game given up by the average Big Ten defenses is actually poor. That number ought to be about 50 yards lower.

23 pts per game given up is also too high and should be about 5 pts lower.

2 turnovers a game is not all that high. I would suspect that even the top ten teams average at or above 1.25 or more. A little suprised its not higher really.

and I think we would be doing better if we were getting more takeaways. We didn't get nearly enough fumbles and should have more INTs as well.

4.65 yards per carry on first down - ? by whom ? Hard to know what to think. I doubt we averaged that high over the past five years did we?

1.2 yards difference between average starting field position - that is an insignificant difference and means nothing unless one is arguing that we should be winning this one by about 15. I have stated many times that we are grossly underperforming in our kick and punt return game. We fair catch and or let roll far too many punts. Kick offs out of the end zone are beyond our control of course.

19000 yards rushing by the Ducks ought to be the fear of God into our coaches. Oregon is a good running team despite being known as a fast paced 'race horse' type offense. Fatigue factor as they try to wear out the opponents' defensive players with up tempo attack. When run well, it is a very very very good offense. Rules and refs favor the offenses today and this explains why playing defense is harder today that twenty years ago arguably. Don't know the exact numbers but I would guess that scoring and total yards and so on are, on average, higher today that 20 years ago.

[ColoradoHusk]

Looking at the stats cited:

 

10 plus wins by the conference champs is nothing surprising

354 yards per game given up by the average Big Ten defenses is actually poor. That number ought to be about 50 yards lower.

23 pts per game given up is also too high and should be about 5 pts lower.

2 turnovers a game is not all that high. I would suspect that even the top ten teams average at or above 1.25 or more. A little suprised its not higher really.

and I think we would be doing better if we were getting more takeaways. We didn't get nearly enough fumbles and should have more INTs as well.

4.65 yards per carry on first down - ? by whom ? Hard to know what to think. I doubt we averaged that high over the past five years did we?

1.2 yards difference between average starting field position - that is an insignificant difference and means nothing unless one is arguing that we should be winning this one by about 15. I have stated many times that we are grossly underperforming in our kick and punt return game. We fair catch and or let roll far too many punts. Kick offs out of the end zone are beyond our control of course.

19000 yards rushing by the Ducks ought to be the fear of God into our coaches. Oregon is a good running team despite being known as a fast paced 'race horse' type offense. Fatigue factor as they try to wear out the opponents' defensive players with up tempo attack. When run well, it is a very very very good offense. Rules and refs favor the offenses today and this explains why playing defense is harder today that twenty years ago arguably. Don't know the exact numbers but I would guess that scoring and total yards and so on are, on average, higher today that 20 years ago.

Those are the average yards and points given up by the "average" Big Ten defenses. Why do you expect those to be so much lower? I agree that the top defenses in the conference should be lower and NU should strive to be better than average, but Sam is just pointing out the average of the Big Ten defenses. The offenses are a lot better than they were 20-30 years ago, so these numbers sound about right for the average defenses in the conference.